Friday, July 9, 2010

Horses and Goats

One of our neighbors is keeping their 4 horses and 1 goat on our property. They are very fun to watch, especially the goat who is quite friendly.


Shortly after the horses were moved over to the property, another neighbor and her 2 kids came over to look at them. We had gone into the house to talk for a while, and the little girl, Lizzy, came running in to tell us that one of the horses was pregnant. We told her that that wasn't the case, but she insisted that not only was one of the horses pregnant but was giving birth at that very moment and one leg was already out. I won't go into any more detail except to say that one of the horses is a male.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Guineas and Chickens

We've been slowly introducing the chickens and the guineas to each other. At first the guineas were very afraid and would go to the top portion of the coop and hide. The chickens seemed to be more interested in eating the grow feed, so they pretty much ignored the guineas and went straight to the food hopper. You can see they are mingling together in this picture.


This is the top half of the coop looking straight down. When we first opened up the cage to the chickens, the guineas would line up next to the stairway and look down at the chickens. They would hang their heads way over, and it was pretty funny to see from below.


We left the cage open one night and Buffy, the alpha chicken at the top of the pecking order, went up there to be with them and show them who was boss.


Last night was the first night the guineas slept outside. Previous to this, the chickens (all 19 of them) were crammed into one coop and the guineas in the other. Guineas naturally sleep out in the open like this, so soon the chickens will be able to use both coops again. Unfortunately, the guineas got quite a scare this morning when some javelina broke into the chicken yard. Two of them flew over the fence to get away from the javelina, and they were making quite a racket this morning trying to get back into the chicken yard. Thankfully, they all survived. Findlay didn't make a peep while all this was going on. He's not a good watchdog. Maybe he's deaf -- or scared!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Guineas

Today we got our guineas in the mail. They are African white guineas.




Here's how they were packed in the box.


This is their setup with the heat lamp and their food and water. One of them drowned in the water bowl within hours, so now we're down to 15 guineas. It looked like he/she fell asleep in the water and drowned.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

No fashion sense

Today Paul said, "That's an interesting outfit you're wearing -- Black shorts, extremely white shoes and socks, and white legs."

Saturday, May 22, 2010

San Diego 2010

Campsite setup

Becky cooking a delicious shrimp fettuccine dinner


Camping with electricity and internet access - the only way to camp


Jet ski fun